Author: Dr. sc. Zilha Mastalić Košuta
The book "Valentin Ćorić: In Vino Libertas, Autobiographical Notes from The Hague" was recently promoted in Zagreb. Ćorić was sentenced to 16 years in prison before the International Court in The Hague. On our portal, we are publishing a text by Dr. Zilha Mastalić Košuta, a senior research associate at the Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law of the University of Sarajevo, in which, using the example of Mostar, she points out some of the points for which Ćorić was convicted.
In the period from June 1992 to November 10, 1993, in the Herceg-Bosna parastatal, the duties of the head of the Military Police Administration were performed by Valentin Ćorić. He had de iure and de facto great powers over all units of the Military Police in the HVO, as well as the authority to participate in the fight against crime in the HVO. He controlled the flow of people and goods on the territory of Herceg-Bosna and convoys with humanitarian aid. As part of his duties, he consciously engaged units of the Military Police in operations to evict and expel the population from their homes (Gornji Vakuf, Mostar, Stolac and other places). He had a key role and control over the functioning of the camps and detention facilities held by the HVO. He contributed to keeping thousands of Bosniaks in captivity under harsh conditions, during which people were beaten, abused and tortured. He regularly ordered or allowed them to be used for forced labor. Despite the alarming information he received, he did nothing to prevent the inmates from Heliodrom from being sent to forced labor on the front lines, where many of them were killed or wounded. He did not even prevent crimes and deaths in the Dretelj camp. He also ordered the forced departure of Bosniaks, ordering them to be freed on the condition that they move abroad with their families through Croatia (for example, Ljubuški and other places). Ćorić significantly contributed to the Joint Criminal Enterprise, which was active in the period from November 18, 1991 to April 1994. The ultimate goal of the JCE was the establishment of a Croatian entity, partly within the borders of the Banovina Hrvatska, in order to reunify the Croatian people. That Croatian entity should have either been annexed to Croatia, after the eventual disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or become an independent state within Bosnia and Herzegovina, closely related to Croatia. Franjo Tuđman, Gojko Šušak, Janko Bobetko, Mate Boban, Jadranko Prlić, Bruno Stojić, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petković, Valentin Ćorić, Berislav Pušić and other collaborators stood out in the planning and realization of such a goal, which produced the most serious crimes, have made a joint agreement to implement such a goal. In order to achieve this common criminal goal, it was necessary to expel the Bosniak population and commit crimes, which Ćorić himself contributed to and for which he fought together with others. Ćorić was found guilty before the ICTY and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was convicted on 22 of the 25 counts of the indictment.
The leaders of Herceg Bosnia were sentenced to a total of 111 years in prison (Jadranko Prlić, Slobodan Praljak, Bruno Stojić, Berislav Pušić and Valentin Ćorić). They were convicted of the most serious crimes against humanity, serious violations of the Geneva Conventions from 1949, violations of the laws and customs of war, including persecution on political, racial and religious grounds, murder, rape, deportation and forced relocation in the municipalities of Mostar, Gornji Vakuf, Prozor, Stolac, Čapljina, Ljubuški, Vareš, Jablanica. The verdict confirmed the international armed conflict in BiH in which the Republic of Croatia participated in the period from April 1993 to March 1994.
On June 8, 1993, Prlić signed the Decision on the establishment of the District Military Prison and the District Prison for the municipalities of Čapljina, Neum, Ljubuški and Ravno in Gabela. (ICTY, No. 01-I-350/93 of 8 June 1993, Decision on the Establishment of the District Military Prison and the District Prison). The notice was also sent to the manager for Gabela, Dretelj, Heliodrom. Valentin Ćorić gave information in a "Notice" that "military investigative prisons are under the exclusive authority of the Military Police Administration". (ICTY, no. 01018389, Military Police, July 6, 1993, Notice to the Commander of Sector SOUTH, n/a Colonel Nedjeljko Obradović.) In fact, these were camps and torture centers through which thousands of inmates passed and in which a significant number of them were killed.
Example of Mostar
After the residents were forcibly evicted from their homes, HVO soldiers carved the letter R, which meant "reserved apartment" on those apartments, or pasted a sticker "under the control of the VP" (ICTY, No. 01031645, RBIH, HZHB, HVO , Department of Defense, SIS Center Mostar, 01.10.1993, Mostar, Information). After the eviction, a new tenant wrote on the door. Members of the HVO, VP, but also Croatian families who came to Mostar from other municipalities moved into the apartments. After certain formations, such as members of the VP HVO, occupied apartments, Mayor Valentin Ćorić sent a request to the Office for Housing and Communal Services, demanding that they "issue appropriate decisions as soon as possible." (ICTY, no. 01536036, RBIH, HZHB, HVO, Administration of the VP, 21 June 1993, Request for issuance of a decision for the apartments of chief Valentin Ćorić.) After evicting the tenants, members of the HVO then returned to those apartments at night and took valuables things. This was very often done by members of the ATG "Benko Penavić" (ICTY, Case IT-04-74, First Instance Judgment Prlić et al., volume II, par. 823, 205-206).
Systematic expulsion and forced relocation of residents continued throughout 1993. HVO soldiers in several residential complexes ordered Bosniaks to turn off the lights, open the doors and wait for the order to move out. So the residents waited in fear for the eviction order to be issued. For example, in the period from June 12 to 14, 1993, the HVO conducted more intensive eviction operations, and the residents of wealthier neighborhoods and "legal and long-term" residents were especially targeted. In the deportation and emigration of the inhabitants, the members of the Prison Battalion and ATG participated the most, and within them the group of Juke Prazine with his group, Vinko Martinović Štela, Stanko Sopta Baja, and a part of the 4th battalion "Tihomir Mišić". (Judgment Prlić et al.) The top of the HVO, Valentin Ćorić, Berislav Pušić, Bruno Stojić, Jadranko Prlić, Žarko Keža, were informed about such actions. (ICTY, Case IT-04-74, First Instance Judgment Prlić et al., par. 870-876, volume II, 219-220.) Members of the Prisoners' Battalion received recognition in the form of the award "first Croatian gun.” (ICTY, no. 01031765, RBIH, HZHB, HVO, Department of Defense, Cabinet of Chief Minister Bruno Stojić, 18 October 1993, Mostar, n/a of the President of HR HB, Information.)
On June 13, 1993, on the eve of June 13, 1993, members of the HVO came to the Dum settlement in Mostar, armed with rifles in large numbers in front of residential buildings and, shooting in the air, shouted that they were looking for "balije", and then gathered all the Bosniaks. They took their documents, decisions on tenancy rights, various items and even medicines and burned everything. Then they forced them to cross the front line and head towards Donja Mahala or the part of the left bank, i.e. the part controlled by the ARBiH. During this expulsion, residents were beaten, shot above the head or around the legs, and forced to run to the front line and cross it. (Judgment Prlić et al., paras 866-867, 218.) On that occasion, HVO soldiers shot Bosniaks from behind in order to force them to cross the front line faster. Members of the ARBiH, not knowing what was happening, opened fire in the direction of those prisoners and continued shooting until they realized that they were civilians. That operation was led by Vinko Martinović Štela along with soldiers of the 4th Battalion "Tihomir Mišić" commanded by Mladen Mišić and the 3rd Brigade of the HVO, and members of the ATG "Vinko Škrobo". (ICTY, First Instance Verdict Prlić et al., par. 866-867,218.) During the deportation of residents of that settlement, girls were raped in front of eyewitnesses. (Ibid., para. 868, see also para. 872, 873 and 876, p. 218).
Hundreds of Bosniaks were allowed to leave Mostar only on the condition that they sign a statement voluntarily leaving all their property to the HVO. (Judgment Prlić et al., par. 861, 216.).
Source: Historiografija.ba